To build an efficient production chain in terms of transport, you want to limit the use of carts as much as possible.

When you click on a production building, it gives you a large circle of influence. Any buildings within this range, which produce a material needed for the production building can be directly transported. Buildings within the area of influence will have a green tint to them.

In the game you will often see a little person carrying a load from a supply building to a production building, like the guy in the picture.

When you click on a distribution house, you can see what buildings are in range and connected by streets when they are highlighted green. Now the trick is to get your end of chain production buildings under the influence of a distribution house while preventing supply buildings from also being under the influence. This can be done with some intelligently placed road breaks.

Here is the street layout. The red connects the Cider Houses (Production) to the Distribution, while the green connects the Cider Houses (Production) to the Apple Farms (Supply). Again, notice in the blue circle how there is a break to prevent the Distribution from connecting to the the Apple Farms.